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NY Times: Radiation Errors Reported in Missouri

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:27:28 +0000

As reported in the New York Times, a hospital in Missouri said Wednesday that it had overradiated 76 patients, the vast majority with brain cancer, during a five-year period because powerful new radiation equipment had been set up incorrectly even with a representative of the manufacturer watching as it was done.

The hospital, CoxHealth in Springfield, said half of all patients undergoing a particular type of treatment — stereotactic radiation therapy — were overdosed by about 50 percent after an unidentified medical physicist at the hospital miscalibrated the new equipment and routine checks over the next five years failed to catch the error.

The revelation comes at a time of growing concern about safety procedures for a new generation of powerful, computer-controlled medical radiation equipment.

Sadly, these kinds of deadly errors often could have been avoided if the medical providers had followed basic safety protocols as well as ensured that their protocols provided sufficient patient safety.

Lieff Cabraser has successfully represented patients improperly exposed to radiation by medical providers. If you or a loved one suffered a severe injury due to excessive radiation as a patient, we can assist you in holding the hospital or medical facility accountable. Please click here to contact a Lieff Cabraser personal injury attorney.

Danger of Excessive Radiation From Hospital Radiation Therapy Profiled

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:53:45 +0000

The over radiation of patients receiving radiation therapy is often not disclosed to patients or reported to public health authorities. In many cases, the mistakes continue for months because the hospital has no system in place to catch the errors.

The New York Times recently published an in-depth investigation on the excessive radiation of patients at medical facilities across America, including:

In New Jersey, 36 cancer patients at a veterans hospital in East Orange were over radiated — and 20 more received substandard treatment — by a medical team that lacked experience in using a machine that generated high-powered beams of radiation.
In Louisiana, a prostate cancer patient received twice the prescribed amount of radiation because he was treated with a new machine that the hospital made a miscalculation even with training instructors still on site.
In Texas, a patient suffered severe radiation injuries after a medical physicist who said he was overworked failed to detect a mistake.
In California, more than 300 patients in four hospitals — and possibly many more — were over radiated by powerful CT scans used to detect strokes. The overdoses were first discovered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a major Los Angeles hospital, where 260 patients received up to eight times as much radiation as intended.

These deadly errors often could have been avoided if the medical providers had followed basic safety protocols as well as ensured that their protocols provided sufficient patient safety.

Study suggests cellphone radiation weakens bone

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:53:01 +0000

Men who wear their cellphones on a belt for many years may have decreased bone density in the pelvic area, according to a new study.

The operative word here is “may.” Dozens of cellphone safety studies have suggested that long-term use may expose people to high enough levels of radio frequency energy to cause such health problems as cancerous and benign brain tumors and behavior problems in children.

Read the full story on the LA Times website.